


The Little Fox

by orbisomnia



Category: Dreamcatcher (Korea Band)
Genre: Angst, Dreamcatcher, F/F, Fluff, gahmi, gahyeon - Freeform, orbisomnia, slight blood, yubin - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-28
Updated: 2020-08-16
Packaged: 2020-10-29 15:44:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 13,161
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20799065
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orbisomnia/pseuds/orbisomnia
Summary: After getting an assignment in her photography class, Yubin ends up accidentally making a new little friend. Which ends up leading her to discover a secret about her new, and very reserved classmate, Gahyeon.





	1. [ Prologue I: Gahyeon ]

_As morning sunlight streamed through the window, and a young girl stirred in her sleep. The girl was curled up on the couch in the living room of what looked to be a cozy apartment. She yawned loudly and sat up, being slightly woken up from the smell of coffee and the quiet sound of someone humming._

_“Good morning Gahyeon!” another woman said from behind her, the humming had stopped so she had assumed it had been her who was humming. She turned her head to see the older woman grabbing some cups from the kitchen cabinets. Gahyeon glanced at her phone that was lying on the coffee table and saw that the time read 7:03 am. She groaned and collapsed back down on the couch._

_“Don’t even think about falling back asleep you’re not gonna be late to your first day of classes.” The older woman had walked over with the two coffee cups and sat them on the table before nudging Gahyeon, making her sit back up._

_“Do I seriously have to go?” she said picking up one of the coffee cups and sipping a little from it. At that moment another woman walked into the room, she looked about as tired as Gahyeon felt._

_“If I have to go you do too kid.” She said as she walked by the couch, ruffling Gahyeon’s hair as she walked by, which earned her a glare from the younger girl._

_“Well, Dongie said you were only going so you could keep an eye on me so if I don’t go then you don’t have to. Problem solved!” Gahyeon said glancing in between both women._

_Handong laughed and shook her head. “Don’t put any idea’s in her head, Siyeon rarely shows up as it is. I’m lucky enough to get her to go today. Both of you are going and that’s that.” the blonde said in a tone that clearly meant neither of the other two were going to change her mind._

_Siyeon rolled her eyes and just shook her head. “Go get ready kid, I’ll be waiting for you outside.” And with that, she left the apartment gently closing the door behind her._

_Gahyeon sighed and got up to get ready. When she was done, she walked back into the living room to find Handong sat at the table glancing through a book, her glasses resting almost on the tip of her nose. “What about you? Why aren’t you going?” the younger girl questioned, as she grabbed her bag from beside the couch and slung it over her shoulder._

_“I have work to do here while you guys are out.” Handong replied, still glancing through the book she was reading. Gahyeon looked at her questioningly for a moment wondering what ‘work’ the older woman had to do._

_“I can’t just stay here and help you?” the younger girl asked, this being her last-ditch effort to try and get Handong to just let her stay home. The blonde finally looked up from her book and laughed._

_“Nice try. As much as I would appreciate the help, you’re not going to miss your first day of classes.” She stood up and put a comforting hand on Gahyeon’s shoulder. “I know you keep trying to avoid this, but you’ve gotta go eventually. Being here in this town means you have to start taking classes and such and doing things normal people usually do. We gotta make sure we fit and blend in if you’re to live here with us. We can’t have people getting suspicious.”_

_Gahyeon just sighed and nodded, she knew the older woman was right._

_“Now c’mon, Singnie is waiting for you outside, go on. I’ll meet up with you guys later.” With that Handong motioned Gahyeon towards the door. After walking outside Siyeon spoke to Handong for a few minutes out of earshot, before nodding and walking back up to Gahyeon._

_“Let’s go, kid,” she said leading Gahyeon down the pathway towards the college, which wasn’t too far of a walking distance from their apartment. Gahyeon hit the older girl’s shoulder and huffed. “Stop calling me a kid! I’m 19!”_

_“You’re still a kid to me. Now c’mon!” Siyeon ruffled the other’s hair again, much to her protest and then walked off, the younger trailing behind her with a pout._


	2. [ Prologue II: Yubin]

_Rushing along the sidewalk, the short-haired blonde looked down for a moment at the watch on her hand. It read 7:58 am. “Fuck.” she murmured under her breath. She was gonna be late for class at this rate. Just as she was about to turn the corner her phone went off in her coat pocket. Glancing at it she saw she had a message from none other than the prime reason she was late, aka her best friend and roommate, Yoohyeon._

_‘hey, you realize you left your camera here right?’_

_Shit. Stopping to look into her bag, sure enough, her camera was nowhere to be found. It honestly just wasn’t her day today. She shot a quick message back saying that it would be fine and to not worry about it. Yoobin just secretly hoped she just wouldn’t need her camera in class today._

_Sliding her phone back in her pocket she rushed into the college, and down the hallways. Silently glad that her first class of the day was on the first floor, otherwise she’d have to run up the stairs. Just as she got towards her classroom she glanced at the clock in the hallway; 8:05. She cursed at herself and then crossed her fingers no one would notice she was late and she could just slide in her usual seat towards the back of the room._

_As she neared the classroom doors, they opened abruptly and a girl, probably a few years older than her with darker brunette hair stepped out of the class into the hallway. She glanced at Yoobin and then turned the other way heading down the hall. Presumably to her class. Yoobin thought she recognized her from one of the other classes she had taken but she wasn’t too sure and just brushed it off as she entered the classroom._

_Her plan to come in undetected was thwarted as soon as she walked in. Some of the other classmates looked at her and then back towards the front of the room, where the professor stood with a girl she didn’t recognize. She was a few years younger than Yoobin, and she had black hair that was slightly faded from where she probably dyed it in the past._

_“Miss Lee. You’re late.” The professor spoke, looking at her questioningly. “And on the first day? That’s not very like you.”_

_“Yeah uh...had some roommate issues and was running late, I’m sor-” Yoobin replied, awkwardly fiddling with the strap of her bag._

_“It’s alright, just go sit down. And let’s just not let this happen again please?” he spoke and motioned for Yoobin to go and take her seat. To which she did immediately. Once she was sat down in her usual spot, the professor put his attention back on the girl who was still standing at the front of the room, messing with the sleeves of her white hoodie._

_“Alright class, as I was saying. We have a new student joining us today. Her name is Lee Gahyeon-” the professor introduced this new girl, and she mostly just nodded along to what he was saying. Yoobin although, after getting some things out of her bag, had zoned out slightly, twirling her pen around her fingers with ease. It wasn’t until a few moments later when she got a shiver down her spine that she looked up to notice the new girl had walked behind her, and down several seats across from where she sat and sat down in the same row Yoobin was in._

_She looked at her curiously, rarely anyone sat this far back except her and she only sat in the back so she wouldn’t have to deal with the rowdiness of her fellow classmates. The girl carefully got a few things out of her bag and just kept her attention on the professor, never once glancing in Yoobin’s direction. ‘Weird..’ she thought as she put her attention back to the professor as he was doing the usual ‘welcome back for another wonderful year’ speech. It didn’t take too long for Yoobin to zone out again, and by the time she snapped back to reality, the class was over. After packing her stuff up she glanced over to where the new girl should’ve been, but she was already gone. Yoobin looked around the room and didn’t see her, so she just kinda shrugged it off and left the classroom, assuming that maybe she’d just somehow gotten out before the others._

_She didn’t think too much about it or the new girl in general, and for weeks she started to forget almost completely about her. In the following few weeks the girl stayed quiet most of the time, and others she never even showed up to the class. Yoobin never really questioned it. It wasn’t her business after all._

_Not yet anyway._


	3. [ Chapter I: The Assignment ]

Yubin leaned back in her chair, twirling her pencil around her fingers clearly bored. She looked down at her watch and saw it was still almost 20 minutes before her photography class started. She heard her roommate walk in and Yubin spun her chair around to face her. 

“Where’s Minji?” 

“Wow, Binnie if I knew any better I’d think you cared more about my girlfriend than me!” The taller girl teased as she rummaged around in the kitchen, probably looking for something to eat. Yubin scoffed and shook her head. 

“Trust me, you can keep her. Anyways we were gonna meet up and walk to class together so I just assumed she’d be with you.” 

“She’ll be here soon I think, she said she had to go get a few things from her dorm and talk to Bora first before she came here,” Yoohyeon replied, turning her attention away from food and towards her best friend. “Don’t you guys get your final project assignment topics today?” 

The shorter blonde just nodded, putting up some of her things into her bag including her camera. She’d forgotten it a few times in the last week, probably because she was a little tired from not getting much sleep the last few days. “Yea, that’s why I’d like to not be late this time.” she retorted making note of the times her classmate made her late. 

“I’m sure she’ll be here soon,” Yoohyeon said, going over to the dorm windowsill where she had a few plant pots with various plants in them. A few had died over the last month so while Yoohyeon was off on dates or outings with Minji, Yubin tried to keep the ones that were left still alive. She loved her best friend to no end, but sometimes the taller girl didn’t have the best green thumb.

“How are you two by the way?” Yubin asked. Her best friend had been kinda quiet and distant lately and it worried her. Her worries grew as she saw the visible slump in Yoohyeon’s shoulders when she heard the question. 

“Great...peachy.” the brunette said quietly, messing with a leaf from one of the plants, not once looking in Yubin’s direction.

“Yooh...” Yubin said, a more comforting tone coming over her voice as she walked over to where Yoohyeon stood messing with her plants. “You can be honest with me you know that,” she said putting a hand on her taller friend’s shoulder.

Yoohyeon sighed and turned to face her. “I don’t know honestly. I want to say we’re okay but I’m just...worried.” 

“Why worried? What happened?” Yubin said as she and Yoohyeon walked over and sat on the couch.

“You know...Minji graduates soon right?” the taller girl stated, the sadness clear in her voice. Yubin knew that already. Minji and Bora both were a few years older than the two same-aged friends, and while most people knew what Bora had planned on doing when she graduated, Minji’s plans were a mystery. Yoohyeon continues, putting her head in her hands.

“I keep asking her what her plans are for when she graduates and...she just won’t tell me. She keeps saying that it’s not anything to be focused on right now.” 

“Maybe she just doesn’t have anything planned yet?” 

“Do you really believe she doesn’t?”

Yubin stayed silent. Yoohyeon was right, Minji was too organized to not atleast have something planned. Why she wasn’t telling her own girlfriend though was what really had her confused. 

“Yubin...what if she won’t tell me because she’d gonna leave?” the taller girl’s voice cracked at the end of her sentence and it broke her heart. She hated seeing her like this. 

“Yoohyeon. Listen to yourself! She wouldn’t do that to you. You’ve been together for what? Almost 2 years now? You really think she’d just up and leave you solely because she’s graduating?” Yubin tried to both reason and comfort her best friend, she also felt she’d been friends with Minji long enough to know she wouldn’t do that to her...right? 

Yoohyeon sighed. “Yea...I guess so. But… what if she ends up moving away? I’ve never done the whole long-distance relationship thing! What if it doesn’t work out?” At this point, the brunette was just going down a spiral of worries and Yubin knew that. 

“Hey, listen to me okay?” she said in the most comforting tone she could, and Yoohyeon just nodded. “Minji loves you, and from what I’ve seen? Honestly Yooh I don’t think that’s gonna change any time soon. If something does happen and you guys have to do the whole long-distance thing I know the two of you will make it work. You’ve been together this long right?” 

“Yea...I guess you’re right.” she gave Yubin a tight hug, one she probably needed more than the latter. “Thank you.” 

Yubin just smiled and nodded, “That’s what best friends are for right?” she playfully punched the taller girl in the shoulder. “Now come on! Put that stupid puppy smile of yours back on your face and go work on your plant stuff or something. It sucks seeing you all mopey.” Yoohyeon just laughed and shook her head heading back over to her plants, watering the ones she hadn’t gotten to yet. 

It wasn’t but a few minutes later when someone knocked on the door, and by the look of what time it was Yubin hoped it was Minji. Otherwise, she’d be leaving without her. Yoohyeon rushed over to open the door and sure enough, it was Minji. She was carrying some coffee and looked about as bright as ever. Yubin never really understood how someone could be so bright this early in the morning but somehow her familiar red-headed friend pulled it off. 

Yoohyeon gave her a hug and Minji kissed her cheek before handing a coffee to her and then walked over to Yubin to give her one as well. 

“Thought we could all probably need this today.” She joked, handing Yubin the coffee. The younger girl just nodded and agreed flinging her bag over her shoulder. 

“Ready to go then? If we don’t leave soon we’re gonna be late.” Yubin said heading towards the door hoping Minji would follow. Minji turned and said something to Yoohyeon; probably about talking to her later this afternoon. The red-head then followed Yubin out into the hall and down the steps out of the building. 

The walk to class was pretty silent, Minji obviously had something on her mind and Yubin could clearly tell. She didn’t feel like it was her place to ask though so she let them continue walking in silence. 

“So, Yubin...can I ask you about something?” Minji suddenly broke the silence, sounding less cheery but almost...nervous? Yubin just nodded letting her continue. 

“Okay so you’re Yoohyeon’s best friend right?” the red-head asked suddenly stopping walking to stand and face the shorter girl. Yubin kind of tilted her head slightly looking at the older girl, confused. 

  
“Uh...yea I am. You know that Minji. Why do you ask?” 

“Well, it’s about graduation.” 

“Oh.”

“Oh?” Minji’s eyes widened slightly, now her turn to be confused.

“Listen, Minji. We might be friends and all but I swear if you break up wi-” Yubin started but was interrupted by Minji’s laugh. Once she stopped laughing, she looked at the younger girl with disbelief on her face.

“Break up?? Yubin you have my word I don’t plan on breaking up with her anytime soon.” The older girl said in a tone that got it clearly across to Yubin that she meant it. “Why would you even think that?” she questioned the blonde.

“Because Yoohyeon thinks you’re gonna leave her.” 

Minji’s face dropped. “Oh no…”

“Yeah. She’s been worried because you won’t talk to her about what your plans are after graduation. She’s kinda been a mess about it.” Yubin said crossing her arms and tapping her foot slightly. “So why won’t you talk to her about it?”

“Well...because I wanted to talk to you first.” Minji sighed and ran a hand through her hair. Yubin could tell she obviously hadn’t meant to worry Yoohyeon. “I was...going to see if she’d move in with me when I graduated and got an apartment. But I wanted to talk to you first because I didn’t want to take your roommate...or your best friend away from you.” 

Yubin stopped tapping her foot. She was stunned almost, not expecting her to say that at all. Thinking for a moment she knew Yoohyeon would be ecstatic. Yea it would suck not having the tall brunette around all the time, but she would be fine. Yubin didn’t realize her friendship with Yoohyeon means that much to the red-head, nor did she think her friendship meant that much. 

“Minji. I’ll be fine I promise, just talk to Yooh okay? And clear this up? Just because you want her to move in with you doesn’t mean you’re taking her away from anyone. She’s still my friend whether we live together or not.” Yubin finally said, a soft smile on her face. 

Relief flooded over Minji’s face and she hugged the shorter girl, a smile practically beaming on her face. “Thank you so so much!” she said clearly ecstatic now which made Yubin smile. “And you know you’re always welcome to visit us!” she added.

Yubin just laughed and shook her head. “I figured I would.” 

“Well that’s...if she actually agrees to move in with me.” 

“Minji?”

“What?”

“Shut up.” Yubin lightly hit the older girl’s arm and looked down at her phone. “Now come on lovebird, if we don’t go now we’re gonna be late for class,” she said before walking off, Minji hurridly following after as they made their way to the college. 

* * *

The class went by faster than Yubin had thought it would, and before she knew it the professor was wrapping things up and reminding them when their new assignments were due.    
  
Yubin had sat in her usual spot in the back row, Minji sitting several rows in front of her talking with a few of her friends that Yubin couldn’t really remember the names of. To be honest the only friend of Minji's that she actually knew was Bora. Aside from that most of the red-heads other friends didn't talk to her often.    
  
The only thing different about today compared to the last few weeks, someone was sitting in the same row as Yubin. When the blonde had glanced over at the end of class, she was still there except her head was down and to Yubin, it looked like she was sleeping.    
  
Minji had already left along with a few other students, so once Yubin got her things together, she headed towards the door. She glanced behind her and noticed that the girl was still asleep. Changing her mind last minute, Yubin walked back towards the back row and over to where the girl sat. The girl's black hair covered her face in a little bit of a mess, and by the way, she was breathing the older girl was sure she was deeply asleep.    
  
“Hey...class is over you know.” Yubin placed a hand on the girl’s shoulder and shook her lightly. She had to immediately step back a little because the girl suddenly jumped up, clearly spooked from being woken up. The younger girl’s eyes were wide when she looked over to notice who had woken her up.    
  
“Sorry, I didn’t realize you were so jumpy.” Yubin apologized quickly, not having meant to scare her.    
  
The younger girl’s eyes softened slightly, but only for a moment before she turned to grab her bag and rush past Yubin towards the door. The older girl was about to say something else when the girl stopped and turned, saying a quiet ‘thank you’, before disappearing out the door.

Yubin followed shortly after, not thinking too much more of the situation as she just assumed the girl was just shy. Walking back towards the dorm she started focusing on what she planned to do for the assignment they had been given. The main topic was ‘nature’ but the professor had told them that they had complete creative freedom as to what we could do with that. The only thing for Yubin though, was that she just wasn’t sure where to start. Halfway to the dorms, she decided she wasn’t going to come home, just yet anyway.

She sent a quick text to Yoohyeon letting her know she’d be back at the dorm later. Sliding her phone back into her jacket pocket, she turned down the path away from the dorms and towards her new destination. There was a wooded park nearby, that not many people went to anymore so it was almost always pretty quiet. Yubin would go there on the weekends or sometimes even during the week in the afternoons if she was too stressed out. 

The whole park was mainly just wooded, aside from a few paths that lead to areas where people used to camp and a few stray benches around the pathways, there wasn’t much there other than trees. This time though, Yubin wasn’t just going solely to ease some stress or get some quiet. She thought maybe she could find a few places to take pictures for her project. The photography student knew the forested park like the back of her hand almost and even knew a few places off the paths that she liked to hide away on some days when she wanted to make sure she wouldn’t be disturbed. 

After making it down to the park, which luckily wasn’t far from the dorms, Yubin followed her usual paths. There was a spot she had found recently that she liked, so she headed down the pathways in that direction. It was one of the more secluded spots, though surrounded by trees there was a larger tree with these long branches that swooped low enough to almost touch the ground. It wasn’t like anyone she’d seen before so when they got their projects assigned she thought it would make for a few really good pictures. 

Once she made it to the spot, she carefully walked around with her camera out snapping a few pictures. It was still pretty early in the afternoon though, so eventually, she just sat down and leaned against the bottom of the tree. Glancing at her phone she realized Yoohyeon had never messaged her back, but assuming Minji was out of class already Yubin just figured that she was hopefully talking to her best friend about the graduation thing the two of them talked about that morning. 

Putting her phone away she leaned her head back looking around for a moment, thinking. She could either go home already or wait until later to possibly get some better pictures during what people called the “golden hour”. Yoohyeon and Minji were probably talking at the dorms, and she didn’t really want to interrupt them. And if she tried to take some pictures later this evening, it would give her a head start. She rummaged around in her bag for her headphones, taking them out and plugging them into her phone. She’d stay for a little longer, and maybe just take a nap to pass the time. 

Finding one of the calmer music playlists on her phone, she put in her headphones and set her phone to silent, so the notifications wouldn’t wake her up. Starting the playlist, she leaned her head back against the tree and closed her eyes, relaxing a little. 

It wasn’t long before Yubin had fallen asleep. Unaware of the rustling in the grass nearby, a pair of small eyes watching her curiously. Not realizing how tired she must have been, Yubin slept much longer than planned, and the sun was already setting. 

She probably would’ve stayed asleep longer.

But she started to stir, and eventually wake up from something slightly cold nudging her hand, if not the sound of something...very alive, next to her.


	4. [ Chapter II: First Encounters ]

Yubin slowly opened her eyes glancing down at her hand, only to completely freeze. Next to her, nudging the palm of her hand...was a fox. It hadn’t noticed her waking up and Yubin didn’t dare move, not wanting to scare it and have it attack her or something. A few seconds passed before the fox finally looked up, noticing the person it was nudging had woken up, it’s eyes grew wide looking almost as frozen in place as Yubin was. 

It suddenly backed away, keeping it’s eyes on the blonde. It looked away long enough to hop on to one of the really low branches of the tree Yubin had been sitting under, and then much to the girl’s surprise, just sat down and stared at her. Yubin didn’t know what to do. Should she move? Just grab her bag and leave? It didn’t seem to want to hurt her, yet didn’t seem afraid either. Just to see if she could, she slowly took her headphones out and set them to the side, keeping an eye on the strange fox to see if it moved.

She carefully opened her bag, and took out her camera. She glanced over at the fox, it hadn’t moved yet but now seemed to be watching her curiously as it’s head was tilted to the side. The fox didn’t seem bothered by her or her camera, so Yubin thought why not try to take a picture? It’s not like this would ever happen again, right?

Yubin carefully brought the camera up to her face, and before the fox could move, she snapped a picture. After placing her camera back down, the fox just yawned and went back to staring at her. The fox’s fur was a reddish orange, almost like the same color of leaves in the fall, aside from the off-white and dark brown, almost black markings. It’s eyes were what puzzled the photography student the most. Something was...different about them, and she couldn’t figure out what. But then again it could just be her imagination. It wasn’t everyday she had seen a fox this close.

Yubin decided to test her luck. 

“You seem friendly, right?” she said towards the fox, who just tilted its head at her once again. Yubin sat up and crossed her legs. She rested one hand in her lap and another she slowly outstretched towards the fox. 

“You’re not gonna bite me or anything if I try to pet you right?” to which she received nothing but the fox’s slightly confused stare. It stayed planted in it’s spot, refusing to come closer. Yubin sighed. 

“That’s alright you can just stay over there.” Yubin went to put her camera back in her bag, closing it up as well as tossing her headphones in as well. While doing so she hadn’t heard the fox step down off of the branch. 

So she couldn’t help but jump slightly when she looked to see that the fox was slowly approaching her. Yubin once again froze, not wanting to scare it off. It seemed cautious of her, but at the same time curious enough to try to approach the girl. 

  
It was almost in arms reach when its ears twitched and it shot its head towards the sounds of rustling not too far from where they sat. 

Yubin didn’t even get a chance to look in the direction the fox was looking in before she heard a low snarl coming from the same direction. If meeting the fox had been some sort of luck, the creature’s snarl was anything but. She looked over to see the silhouette of a fairly large-sized wolf, almost hidden by the shadows of the trees because of how dark it’s fur was. Fear suddenly shot through her as she stared down the wolf who clearly seemed angry. 

Yubin didn’t dare move, but glanced back towards the fox. It had now backed away several feet from Yubin and had it’s ears laid back. The fox glanced back towards her, and then towards the wolf. When it did, the wolf growled stepping slightly forward towards the two. 

Almost immediately after, the fox ran off towards the wolf, running off past it out of sight back to where the wolf had presumably came from. The wolf stared Yubin down, before turning and disappearing back off into the same direction the fox had gone.

Once out of sight, Yubin breathed a sigh of relief. The last thing she wanted to happen today was to get eaten by some wolf in a secluded part of the forested park. Regaining her composure she slung her bag over he shoulder and quickly left down the pathway heading home.

Once out of the park and outside the dorms, she pulled out her phone and texted back Yoohyeon, who, while she was asleep had messaged her multiple times. Going from excited messages about wanting to tell her something, to worried ones about why had she not come back yet. Yubin just assumed Yoohyeon was probably talking about the stuff with Minji, and then just told her that she had been out taking pictures and lost track of time. Which wasn’t a complete lie. She had gotten a few pictures of the tree before she took that nap, and then the picture of the fox she had taken afterwards.

The fox. 

Yubin stopped to replay the events over in her head of what had happened. Weren’t foxes supposed to be afraid of humans? Plus aside from birds, Yubin almost never saw any sort of wildlife around the park. Maybe a squirel or a rabbit but never a fox or hell, a wolf. She just wrote it off at the fact she was usually never in the forested park that late, so that’s why she’d never seen the pair. 

That was another thing that confused her. As big as that wolf was, it easily could’ve eaten the fox or hurt it. Hell it could’ve hurt her if it really wanted to. But why didn’t it? It almost seemed like they were...friends or something. 

The fox and the wolf. 

Yubin shook her head. This all made her head spin and at this point she needed to just lay down. 

Entering the dorm room, it was oddly quiet. Yubin set her bag down on her desk and looked to find a note with familiar handwriting. 

_‘Going out on an impromtu date with Minji, don’t wait up for me! I’ll talk to you in the morning! Love you! - Yooh’ _

Yoohyeon had even doodled a puppy face on the note as well, right by her signature. Yubin just lightly chuckled and left the note on her desk. After the last few hours she didn’t mind having the apartment to herself tonight. She went and checked on Yoohyeon’s plants, watering a few of them since she knew her roommate probably didn’t get the chance to yet. While doing so she began thinking about the events from earlier and glanced back over to her bag, where her camera was still in. 

Walking over she opened the bag, sitting down at her desk and turning the camera on. She scrolled through pictures, ones of the tree and a few others until she got to the last picture she’d taken that day. 

The picture of the strange fox.

The photography student studied the picture for a moment. The more she thought about it the more she questioned if what happened merely not even an hour or so ago actually happened. This picture was the only proof she even had. Yubin looked at the fox in the picture. The longer she looked the more the fox just seemed like any other one she’d seen in pictures.

Except for the eyes.

Something was different about it’s eyes and she couldn’t figure out what it was. She opened up her laptop and just did a basic search on foxes, glancing at a few pictures and then back at the one she had taken. Eventually she had started reading things about foxes and felt sort of guilty for what she had read. Apparently foxes weren’t really that dangerous to people, in fact most usually just ran off from people. Unless of course they were just used to being near people. Maybe that’s why her fox had came right up to her like it did? 

Reading more she saw that most were pretty playful and curious. Glancing back at the picture Yubin realized that that might have been why her fox was so curious and interested in her for some reason. Some things just didn’t add up though, and it made Yubin’s head spin. If the fox was curious of her...wouldn’t that mean it wasn’t used to humans? So it should’ve just ran from her? And supposedly, like she had thought, foxes were prey to wolves...so why didn’t the wolf attack it? Nothing made sense and at this point the photography student thought she was going insane. 

She closed her laptop with a sigh. That was enough for today and her mind racing as much as it had, made her extremely tired. Turning her camera off she put it back in her bag and went to head to bed. Making a note of what she’d do tomorrow. There was only one way to know if any of that was real and not just some weird stress-induced dream. She’d sleep in alittle more than normal tomorrow and then head out in the afternoon to the same spot, to see if she could find her fox. 

* * *

The next day was Saturday, so the dorms were all pretty quiet with most people probably either studying or sleeping in. Much like Yubin was doing. By the time she woke up Yoohyeon was already awake and moving around, seeming happier than usual. Looking over at her phone she noticed it was a little past noon, which made it weird for Yoohyeon to even be up as she usually slept in longer than Yubin did. 

After getting up and heading into the living room, she plopped down on the couch beside her best friend who almost immediately pulled her into a tight hug which surprised the the shorter girl. Once she finally let go, Yubin spoke up with a slight laugh, “What are you so chipper about, shouldn’t you still be asleep?” 

“I’m excited!! And I just wanted to give you a hug, is that so bad?” Yoohyeon said with a grin. Yubin was about to say something else when the taller girl interrupted her. “So remember how I said I wanted to talk to you about something?”

“Yea, I was gonna ask about that.” The blonde just replied and nodded.

“Okay well do you remember how I was upset yesterday? About Minji?” The taller girl asked, excitement clear in her voice. Yubin just nodded in response to let Yoohyeon continue. 

And thus Yoohyeon started telling her about how Minji had taken her on a date the night before, and they were talking about graduation and Minji told her that she wanted Yoohyeon to move in with her if she wanted to when the older girl graduated. 

Yoohyeon was practically beaming as she kept telling Yubin about how shocked and excited she was and how she told Minji she felt bad at first because of how she thought Minji was going to break up with her or something. Eventually Yoohyeon stopped and paused telling her story, her grin fading slightly. 

“What is it?” Yubin asked suddenly becoming concerned. 

“Are you sure you’re okay with it? Being here, by yourself?” 

Yubin just shook her head and lightly chuckled. “I’ll be fine! Minji and I talked earlier yesterday about it. Infact that was part of the reason she hadn’t talked to you yet.”

Yoohyeon nodded, “Yea I know you guys talked, she told me. But I don’t know. I just wanted to ask you myself? Just to be sure. So are you sure you’re okay with not having a roommate anymore?” 

Yubin nodded quietly, “I promise you, Yooh I’ll be fine.” Yoohyeon once again pulled her into a hug. “You know I’m gonna miss you right?” the shorter girl hugged her back, and nodded. 

“You act like you’re moving to a different country you dork.” Yubin laughed and said once they stopped hugging. “I already told Minji I’d be visiting as much as you guys would allow, so.” 

Yoohyeon grinned and nodded. “Yea! That’d be great!” 

The two friends spent the next few hours chatting and eventually going about doing their own thing. It was starting to get later in the afternoon when Yubin started making sure she had her camera and a few other things in her bag. Yoohyeon, who was playing games at her desk, looked over questioningly. 

“Where are you headed so late?” She paused the game and spun her chair towards Yubin. That was when it hit the photography student that she never told her best friend about the fox incident. She pulled out her camera and switched it on walking over to Yoohyeon.

“Well you see, I need to take more pictures for my assignment but also...there’s this.” Yubin showed the picture of the fox to Yoohyeon and her eyes widened in suprise.

“Is that a fox?!? How did you get a picture of a fox? Aren’t they dangerous??” 

Yubin shook her head. “No apparently not, and I’m still not sure either...it just kinda came up to me while I had accidentally fallen asleep and I got a picture before it ran off.” the blonde left out the part about the wolf, she knew her best friend would’ve freaked.

“So. You’re telling me a fox came up to you and just let you take a picture of it?” Yoohyeon asked almost in disbelief. And honestly Yubin didn’t blame her. She nodded.

  
“Well...you’re not gonna go out looking for it again are you?” Yoohyeon said, sounding concerned. Yubin slipped her camera back into her bag and nodded.

“I am actually. I guess it’s not the only thing that’s holding on to a little bit of curiosity. And like I said, Yooh it’s not dangerous.” Yubin slipped her bag over her shoulder and looked back at Yoohyeon. 

“Alright. Just...be careful okay?” Yoohyeon said, the worry in her voice as she spoke. She then turned around and went back to playing her games. To which Yubin saw as her cue to go, so she just headed out the door and out of the dorm building. As she headed towards the forested park, she silently hoped she’d see the fox again.

* * *

The walk didn’t take long, and before she knew it she was heading down the pathway once again towards the same spot she had been the day before. As she veared off the main path towards the tree she thought she heard something. Humming? Looking around she didn’t see anyone and soon enough the humming stopped. Yubin, too focused on the task at hand decided to ignore the strange humming and continued walking down the path. 

Suddenly she thought she heard rustling, and looked around, once again not seeing anyone or anything. She noticed a few leaves had fallen off of a tree and looked up just to see a flash of something white disappear behind one of the tree’s branches. Yubin stopped and looked closer, feeling stumped when she didn’t see anything. Maybe I am going crazy. She thought to herself as she turned and headed towards the tree. 

Once there, she glanced around. Nothing in sight. She even looked around at the tree-line where the wolf and fox had disappeared down the day before, and still nothing. Disappointed she sat against one of the low tree branches and slid her bag off and onto the ground beside her. She took her camera out and started taking little pictures here and there of the area surrounding the tree, not noticing a movement above her. 

Setting her camera down, she leaned back against the tree closing her eyes and relaxing abit. If the fox didn’t show up she could atleast spend the afternoon relaxing. She was almost asleep when she thought she heard a soft humming once again. Yubin opened her eyes and looked around, but about as soon as she did the humming stopped. The photography student was almost considering just leaving when she thought she heard a rustle. But then there was silence. 

She leaned back against the tree again and was just suddenly about to close her eyes when she heard a rustle and a thud right next to her making her jump in surprise. Turning to look at the source of the noise she looked and there was nothing there. So she almost jumped out of her skin when something nudged her other arm. 

  
When she jumped back, she looked to see the thing that had nudged her and it was none other than the same fox from the day before. Except now it had moved back alittle when Yubin had jumped back and was making a noice that almost...sounded like a laugh? Yubin was dumbstruck. She knew from her research the night before that foxes were vocal and could make all kinds of sounds so the “laugh” didn’t shock her too much. 

But what surprised her was that the fox...seemed to be _laughing_ at her. 

When it stopped it just sat there and stared at her again, much like the day before. Yubin was still slightly in shock so she just sat up alittle and looked back at the fox sitting in front of her.

“So you are real huh. Not just a weird stress-induced illusion.” she said, to no one in particular. She knew the fox couldn’t talk back or hear her so to be honest she probably looked insane. Yubin went back into her bag and grab her camera, not noticing the fox glancing from her to her bag and back at her. Yubin turned back around the camera in hand and glanced back at the fox who was sat still on the grass in front of her. 

She snapped a picture quickly and went to glance at the picture she had taken on the screen of the camera. It was a cute picture and it almost looked like the fox was...smiling? Yubin glanced back up and to her surprise the fox wasn’t sat in front of her anymore. Before she got a chance to look around the fox popped up from beside her looking towards the camera’s screen. The photography student jumped, accidentally scaring the fox as well. 

“Could you not do that?! Jeez..” Yubin exclaimed loudly, getting tired of being spooked by the fox. The fox slinked back slightly with it’s head and ears laid low, almost looking sad...and maybe scared? Almost immediately she felt bad, and was afraid of scaring the fox off so she just set the camera down and sighed.

“I’m sorry, I just get spooked pretty easily I guess. I didn’t mean to yell at you.” she said in a softer tone than before. The fox seemed to have calmed down and twitched it’s ears at her.

Yubin smiled and then immediately put her head in her hands. “Oh god...I really have gone insane. I’m literally sat here talking to...a fox.” She awkwardly laughed at herself. 

“Yoohyeon would never let me live this down. She’d probably think I was insane. Though she can’t say much I’ve overheard her mumbling to her plants before so.” Yubin looked up from her hands and saw the fox had now moved to sit directly in front of her and had it’s head tilted to the side. Probably about as confused as she was. 

  
  
The photography student just shook her head. “You’re an interesting thing huh. Aren’t you supposed to be afraid of people?” The fox just gave her an almost confused glance. 

  
Yubin just shook her head again and went to search for something in her bag. “I didn’t think you would answer.” After searching for several minutes, she pulled out a book. 

“While I’m here I guess I’ll just relax a bit. I’ve already taken enough pictures for today anyways.” She leaned back against the tree and opened the book to where she had left off. She glanced up to notice the fox hadn’t moved.

“You don’t have to stick around you know. I promise you I’m not that interesting, and plus you might want to go before your wolf friend comes to get you again.” Yubin said, remembering the wolf from the day before. She also silently cursed at herself because once again, here she was. Sat alone under a tree talking to a fox that couldn’t respond or understand her. 

She didn’t wait for the fox to leave, and looked back down at her book and started reading again. Almost ten minutes later, she was too into her book to realize the fox had moved over and stood beside her. 

She almost jumped when she felt a weight on her lap and carefully looked down to see the fox had curled up beside her and laid it’s head in her lap while she was reading. Yubin froze. Should she move? It seemed pretty comfortable...eh maybe she shouldn’t. Yubin left the fox alone, careful not to move too much, and continued reading her book quietly. 

She kept glancing down at it every once in a while, noticing at one point it had closed its eyes and fell asleep. Yubin found it so weird this...strange fox seemed so comfortable with people. And comfortable with her. So much so that it was literally asleep with its head on her lap. Eventually though, the photography student grew tired, and the book slipped from her hands as she too dozed off. 

* * *

It wasn’t till almost an hour later when Yubin's phone started buzzing that she woke up. The book was in the grass beside her but much to her surprise the fox was nowhere to be seen. Looking back at her phone she noticed that once again it was getting late, and the messages were just from Yoohyeon checking if she was okay and if “she’d been eaten by a fox or wolf yet”. Yubin chuckled and shook her head, replying back that she was okay and she was heading back to the dorms soon. 

Yubin put her camera back in the bag and stood up looking around once again. The fox was nowhere in sight, and she had never seen the wolf either. Maybe it had left after she dozed off. She shrugged and slung her bag over her shoulder and walked off towards the path, not noticing the pair of eyes sat in a higher tree branch, watching her as she disappeared out of sight. It wasn’t until Yubin was already at the dorms and unpacking her bag, to notice that she had accidentally left the book at the tree and forgot to put it back in her bag. It was too late to go back now so Yubin just silently hoped it would still be there when she returned tomorrow. 

The next day played out much like the day before, Yubin had went back to the same spot to take pictures and also to see if her fox was still there. As well as the book she’d left by accident. The book was gone but the fox had returned, and so the photography student spent most of her afternoon sat under the tree. 

The fox kept her company, and would sometimes bounce around through the tree branches and run around. It always came back though, to sit by Yubin’s side while she looked through her pictures or wrote in a notebook she had brought incase the book wasn’t there when she returned. It was a quiet and calm afternoon, and oddly enough Yubin started to like the fox’s company. 

* * *

Eventually Monday came around and it was the same routine as the week before. Yubin ended up walking on her own to class this time though, as apparently from a note on her desk told her, Minji had decided to walk Yoohyeon to class that day. Which she didn’t mind much, atleast that would mean she wouldn’t be late to class this time. 

Walking down the hall, the photography student was so lost in her thoughts about the weekend’s events that she hadn’t noticed someone walking towards her. Atleast not until the person bumped into her shoulder, making her stumble slightly. She stopped and regained her balance before looking at the person that bumped into her was the same girl she’d seen leaving her classroom on the first day of classes a few months ago.

Siyeon she thought the girls name was, she didn’t know her personally, but Bora knew of her and mentioned her from time to time as she shared a few classes with her. When she actually showed up to them that is. “Sorry.” Yubin said, even though she wasn’t the one that should’ve really been apologizing as the older girl had been the one to run into her.

Siyeon started to reply with a “It’s oka-”, but she stopped, looking almost as if she had recognized Yubin from somewhere. Her gaze turned cold and she turned on her heel and walked off without another word, leaving the photography student stood there, dumbfounded. She barely knew the girl so why had she seemed so angry with her? Yubin just shrugged it off and headed into class, sitting at her usual spot in the back. 

Most of the time Yubin was more focused in her classes but today had just felt off. So she eventually started getting lost in her own thoughts thinking about what had happened over the last few days, between the situation with Yoohyeon moving out soon, the weird afternoons with the little fox, and now this girl who’d she’d only ever really ran into one other time seemed to be angry with her. It wasn’t until there was a light tap on her shoulder that she finally snapped back to reality. Looking for the source of the tap, she looked up to see the younger girl who Yubin had woken up after class last friday, was now standing by where she sat looking at her. 

“You’re...Yubin right?” 

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! I hope you liked this chapter, and like where the story is going so far! ^-^
> 
> Just wanted to let you know that this is just a repost of an au I'm currently updating on twitter, and with that said I'm actually ahead a few chapters there than I am here! So if you would like to be better up to date feel free to follow the link to the twitter post and you can catch up to where I currently am in the au now! As the time I write this it's up to the fifth chapter, so if you wanna see what happens check it out there, if not keep an eye out here and I'll update with the next few chapters soon!! <3
> 
> ( https://twitter.com/orbisomnia/status/1073066984307417093?s=20 )


	5. [ Chapter III: Trapped ]

Yubin nodded, turning her attention to the younger girl. “Yea that’s me. What’s up?” 

“The...professor told me that if I needed help I could ask you? He said you might be able to help?” the girl looked nervous, and Yubin couldn’t really figure out why. Though it was strange for the professor to suggest her of all people to help, there were far better people in the class than herself. 

Yubin must’ve been lost in her thoughts again because the other girl spoke up again in an almost ramble, “I mean uh- if you don’t mind helping me? I mean, if not that’s okay I can just go-” she said getting ready to turn and walk away. 

“No it’s alright, I don’t mind helping you.” Yubin said, holding back a slight chuckle at the younger girl’s nervous rambling. The girl stopped and looked at her with a glint of curiosity in her eyes. “Are you sure?” 

Yubin just nodded. “Yea it’s okay with me. Though I don’t know your name?” 

“Oh, right. It’s Gahyeon!” she said with a smile.  _ Cute. _ Yubin thought to herself, and then motioned to the seat beside her. “Well you’re welcome to sit here and you can tell me what you need help with?” 

“Yea! Of course, just let me grab my stuff.” Gahyeon walked off to where her seat was and grabbed her bag and a white hoodie that Yubin recognized from a few days ago. She walked back over and sat next to Yubin, and then just quietly looked at her. 

“So...what was it you needed help with?” Yubin asked after a few seconds of awkward silence between the two. The younger girl was acting strange and for the life of her Yubin couldn’t think of why. She didn’t come off as mean or something did she? 

“Oh um, well I’ve missed a few days an-” she started but stopped when she heard the blonde lightly scoff. “Okay a few days is putting it lightly.” she continued, rolling her eyes.

“I almost never see you in class.” Yubin replied, not meaning to sound mean, as she just wanted to lighten the mood a little with a joke or two. Gahyeon huffed and looked back down to the notebook infront of her. Yubin swore she saw the younger girl’s smile fade just slightly. 

“Yea well I-” Gahyeon started again but was stopped by the older girl who said in a calmer and slightly apologetic tone, “It’s fine you don’t have to explain anything to me, I was just teasing you.” Yubin smiled softly, not having meant to rile the girl up. 

Gahyeon looked up from her notebook to glance at Yubin, but not for long as she almost immediately looked back down at her notebook obviously avoiding having to look at her. 

“Alright. Well I needed help with my project, I...haven’t really started it and honestly didn’t know where to start. I thought you’d be able to help me figure that out.” the younger girl tapped her pen on the desk as she talked, explaining what she needed help with. 

“I thought you said the professor wanted me to help you?” Yubin questioned.

“Uh, yea yea that’s what I meant. Anyways there’s another problem.” 

The blonde looked at her questioningly but didn’t say anything letting her continue. 

“I uh...don’t know how to use a camera that well.” The younger girl said quietly.

“You what??” Yubin said in slight disbelief. “Why are you in this class then if you don’t know how to use a camera?” Gahyeon just shook her head.

“Well I mean I know how to take pictures and stuff but like...all the fancy things I guess that people can do with cameras I don’t really know how to do. I can take pictures easily, I just don’t know how to take actually GOOD pictures.” The darker haired girl said quickly trying to explain what she had meant. She looked over to see Yubin with her head on her desk. 

“Um...Yubin?” 

“Yes?” the blonde mumbled her head still on the desk.

“Are...you okay?” 

“Perfect.” And with that she lifted her head up and got out her camera, setting it down by her notebook. Gahyeon just watched her silently for a moment, almost as if she was trying to figure out something about the other. She hadn’t realized she had been staring until Yubin spoke up. 

“Helloooo? Gahyeon?” the blonde was waving a hand in the younger girl’s face trying to get her attention. 

When Gahyeon had snapped out of it Yubin continued, a confused look on her face for a moment before she went back to being more serious, ignoring the fact the younger girl had been staring at her for a longer time than Yubin would’ve normally liked. “Alright as I was saying...we can start on some basic stuff today and then if you need we can meet up the next few days and work on the rest? If that works for you?”

Gahyeon just nodded, her phone going off at the same time and she looked to turn it on silent before turning her attention back to Yubin. “Let’s get started then.” Yubin replied, handing her camera to the younger girl and started to explain things.

They spent the next hour and a half with Yubin explaining how certain things worked and how you could get different effects depending on how you took a picture and such. Gahyeon, intently listening to every word the other girl said, occasionally jotting notes in her notebook when she wasn’t leaning on her hand listening and nodding quietly. 

Time flew by fast and it was a bit too late for the younger girl to notice the multiple missed calls and messages on her phone. That was, until the two were packing up their belongings as someone barged into the classroom, which was now empty aside from Gahyeon and Yubin. 

Gahyeon looked up as she heard the doors open and looked almost worried as she saw who had walked in. Yubin turned to see that it was the same girl who had seemed to be mad at her earlier, Siyeon. Yubin was about to say hello when Siyeon walked past her and to Gahyeon, not seeming mad, but instead concerned. 

“You haven't answered any of my messages so I got worried, I had been waiting for almost an hour after class.” the older girl said, a mixture of worry and relief in her voice. 

“I’m fine, I promise. I’m sorry for not returning your messages, I was...studying.” Gahyeon then motioned over to Yubin who at this point was sort of awkwardly standing there. “Si, this is Yubin, she’s helping me with my assignments.” 

“Yea I know her, we bumped into each other earlier.” Siyeon’s voice changed slightly and looked towards the blonde with a gaze that sent chills down her spine. Yubin went to say something when Siyeon turned back to Gahyeon and said a quick, “Let’s go.” and walked out of the classroom, Gahyeon following close behind, only giving Yubin a small wave and an almost apologetic glance before disappearing with Siyeon into the hallway. 

Yubin stood there, slightly confused at why the older girl seemed to dislike her so much. Gathering the last of her stuff together she noticed a notebook still on the desk, and upon looking closer she found it was Gahyeon’s. Glancing back up at the door, she figured the younger girl was probably long gone by now so she picked up the notebook, noticing a sticky note on the front of it. 

“What the…” the blonde read the note and looked back to the door and then back down at the note. The younger girl had left her a note with her phone number on it, supposedly so Yubin could text her and let her know when the next time they could study together. Yubin looked at the note in slight confusion as it looked like something else was crossed out, and ‘study together’ was written over it. With a sigh, she put the note in her pocket and the younger girl’s notebook into her bag, making a mental note to message Gahyeon later that day once she got home, as well as let the younger girl know about her notebook. Which Yubin planned to just give her back the next time she saw her. 

She left the classroom and went down the hallway, towards the exit. Once outside she slipped her headphones in her ears and started to walk home, unaware of someone in the shadows, watching her as she left.

* * *

The rest of the week flew by pretty quickly, most of Yubin's afternoons spent tutoring Gahyeon and helping her with her assignment. Yubin eventually got used to the younger girl's company, starting to enjoy their study sessions even when some of them lasted hours. 

As far as Siyeon was concerned, aside from cold glances in the hallways, Yubin never saw her much and she never interrupted her study sessions with Gahyeon. Yubin wanted to ask about how the other girl knew Siyeon, or maybe why she seemed to dislike her so much, but she never really got the chance to. And Gahyeon never mentioned it so Yubin just figured she wouldn't pry. 

During most of their study sessions the photography student learned alot about the latter, finding she was a lot different than Yubin had initially thought. After the first two times they hung out, she found the younger girl could be really talkative sometimes, which Yubin wouldn't mind except for the fact she seemed to ramble a lot when asking questions. 

That was another thing that fascinated the older girl; Gahyeon was very curious about everything. She constantly asked questions about everything and as long as they were about photography, Yubin would happily explain. It was the personal questions she would more or less avoid. Sometimes shooting back questions at the younger girl, which would thus end up with an odd silence that truth be told neither of them liked. 

The other thing that Yubin began to notice about the odd girl was that she was very clingy after she seemed to get comfortable with Yubin. Which much to the older girl’s surprise, didn’t take long. 

The third time they studied was in the college’s library, as there were a few books in there that Yubin had thought Gahyeon could use and maybe help her to understand a few things more than what the photography student could explain on her own. 

Yubin sat on the floor in one of the quieter corners of the library, with Gahyeon sat close beside her. While Yubin was flipping through one of the books, she felt a weight on her shoulder. Looking out the corner of her eye, she realized Gahyeon had rested her chin on her shoulder, her eyes focused on the book Yubin had in her lap. She didn’t say anything, and kept flipping through the book every once in a while pointing out a few things in the book and explaining them to Gahyeon who silently listened and occasionally nodded, her head still on her shoulder. It wasn’t till Yubin went to move that Gahyeon moved away and kind of awkwardly kept her distance for the rest of their study session. 

Since that the next day or two, Gahyeon would still do small things like that. Sometimes resting her chin on Yubin’s shoulder to read whatever book or notes she had in her lap, or even sometimes just leaning on the older girl’s shoulder while she read out and tried to explain things. By the end of the week, the younger girl wouldn’t awkwardly shy away after leaning on her, and in fact just ended up leaning on her even more most of the time. And eventually Yubin became comfortable with it, not really minding her being so close.

It had only been a week and somehow Yubin had become more comfortable with Gahyeon then she thought was possible. She liked having the younger girl’s company, and to think that a week ago she barely even knew she existed. 

Something drew Yubin to the younger girl that she didn’t fully understand. It was almost as if there was something about her that felt just so...familiar to Yubin. And for the life of her she couldn't figure out what it was.

All she knew was that she really liked it. 

* * *

It was late Saturday evening and despite not having classes, Yubin was standing outside the campus, her bag slung over her shoulder, patiently waiting for someone. The day before, during one of their study sessions Yubin had mentioned to Gahyeon that maybe they could try going out and taking pictures somewhere, to get her some practice. To which Gahyeon had agreed saying she knew the perfect place that she wanted to take some pictures at. 

They had agreed to meet up at the school first, as much to Yubin’s confusion, Gahyeon didn’t want to meet up at her house. Yoohyeon and Minji had been hanging out in Yubin’s dorm so she figured meeting up there wouldn’t have been a good idea either. But it was starting to get late and Gahyeon hadn’t shown up yet.

She had almost started to text the younger girl when she heard some commotion nearby. Looking up she saw Gahyeon half walking-half running around the corner, slowing down when she got close to Yubin. She looked slightly tired as if she’d been running for a while but Yubin didn’t have a chance to question it as the younger girl immediately spoke up.

“Sorry for being late I was runni- I had something I had to take care of. But I’m here now so let’s go shall we?” she spoke so fast that if Yubin hadn’t been kinda used to it by now, she would’ve never understood a word she had said. Yubin was about to say something when Gahyeon just grabbed her hand and darted away from the campus, pulling her along. After getting halfway down the street Yubin finally got the younger girl to slow down long enough for her to talk. 

“Okay for one, why are we practically running? And secondly, where are we going? You never told me?” she questioned catching her breath. Gahyeon awkwardly placed her hand on the back of her neck for a moment, and responded somehow nowhere near as out of breath as the older girl was.

“Oh! Right sorry, there’s a place in the nearby park that I like to go to, and I thought it would make for some good pictures.” 

“Oh...okay.” Yubin responded, figuring Gahyeon wasn’t going to answer why they had basically sprinted away from the campus. 

“Can we not like...sprint the rest of the way though? I’d like to not pass out as soon as we get there.” the blonde added with a light laugh at the end of her sentence.

Gahyeon hesitated and then nodded, “Yea..sure of course. Sorry.” 

“You don’t have to apologize.” Yubin said, but the younger girl had already turned and started walking down the street. Yubin sighed and walked to catch up to her, and the rest of the walk to the park was in silence. 

When they finally reached the park, Gahyeon led Yubin down the main path and it wasn’t until she turned off the main path in a direction Yubin was all too familiar with, that she spoke up.

“Um..Gahyeon?” 

“Yea?” She had stopped and turned to look at Yubin, a slight confused look on her face. “You okay?”

“Yea no I’m fine just, where are we going?” Yubin questioned, though she had a feeling where they were heading as she’d been down this path many times.

“There’s a spot down this way that I like to go to...it’s off the pathway, as you can tell. I figured you wouldn’t mind?” she replied, almost sounding weary now.

“Alright, lead the way.” Yubin said, curious to see if she was going to lead them to where the photography student thought. And sure enough, after walking a little longer they ended up in the same clearing Yubin had been dozens of times over the past few weeks. The large tree still in the middle where the older girl had stumbled upon that strange fox less than a week ago. 

Gahyeon just walked over to the tree and sat down leaning against one of the lower branches that touched the forest floor. Yubin quietly walked over and sat beside her looking around, about to question how the younger girl knew of this place, before she spoke up. 

“So this is it. It’s pretty right?” the younger girl was looking up at the tree, through all of its intricate twisting branches, where some of the afternoon sunlight was still shining through. 

“How do you know of this place?” Yubin immediately questioned, earning her an almost surprised look from Gahyeon, who turned to look at her.

“I found it by accident one day.” she said no longer looking at the older girl and instead taking her bag off her shoulder and placing it on the ground beside them. “I come here a lot actually, it’s a nice place to be alone sometimes.”

“How come I’ve never seen you here then?” 

Gahyeon was searching for something in her bag, but suddenly froze at the question. After a few seconds of silence she quickly replied, “Maybe we’ve just been here at different times.” and quietly continued rummaging through her bag taking out her own camera. 

“Maybe so.” Yubin replied and kinda shrugged it off. “So you brought your own camera this time?” she said looking at the camera the younger girl was now fidgeting with.

She smiled proudly and nodded. “Yea! Kinda...it’s my friends but she’s letting me borrow it. I figured it would help if I wasn’t using yours all the time.” she went back to fidgeting with the camera, making a face while she was trying to concentrate. 

Yubin stifled a laugh and spoke up, as the younger girl seemed to be having problems with the camera. “Is there something wrong?” 

Gahyeon huffed and set the camera down in her lap, looking defeated. “Yea, it’s not turning on.” Suddenly her eyes widened. “Oh no I hope I didn’t break it...Singie would kill me…” she murmured to herself, but still loud enough for Yubin to hear. 

“Singie?” Yubin questioned, curious.

“Ah, that's just my nickname I call Siyeon sometimes...this is her camera.” the younger girl replied, turning over the camera in her hands.

“Oh...gotcha. Well let me see, maybe if I can see what’s wrong.” the blonde held out her hand to which Gahyeon hesitantly handed over the camera. 

“And even if I can’t, just tell her I broke it.” Yubin said looking at the camera, “She already seems to dislike me anyways.” she mumbled quietly to herself sarcastically.

Yubin’s attention was on the camera, so she didn’t see Gahyeon’s smile drop slightly, a guilty expression on her face. “Siyeon...she’s not that mean. She just...has her reasons.”

The blonde snapped her attention away from the camera for a moment, “And what reasons would those be?” Yubin retorted back, her tone colder than she had intended. 

Gahyeon flinched slightly, and Yubin felt a slight pang of guilt for a second. She just quietly went back to looking at the camera, the younger girl never answering, creating an almost tense silence between the two. Gahyeon sat quietly, fidgeting with her hands and pulling at the grass they were sat on, waiting for Yubin to say something. 

“The camera is dead Gahyeon.” Yubin said, handing the camera back to her.

“WHAT!?” 

“Calm down, by dead I mean the battery is dead. Aka, someone didn’t charge it before they let you use it.” Yubin reached into her own back and grabbed her camera out turning it on. 

“Oh.” Gahyeon just put the camera back in her bag quietly. “So I guess I’m using yours?”

Yubin nodded, “Yea I guess so, otherwise this trip would be a waste. Here.” she handed the camera to her, “Just be careful with it.” 

“Alright...and I’m not that clumsy you know.” Gahyeon retorted, and stood up looking around trying to figure out what she was gonna take pictures of. Yubin just quietly shook her head. Taking out a book she started flipping through the pages, reading quietly as Gahyeon wandered around taking pictures with her camera. 

Almost an hour passed when Yubin looked up just as Gahyeon had snapped a picture. “What are you doing?” she said, closing the book, looking up at the younger girl who was just standing there smiling seemingly proud of herself after taking a picture of the blonde reading. 

“You looked peaceful...I thought it would make a cute picture.” Gahyeon plopped down beside Yubin and showed her the picture. “And plus I ran out of things to take pictures of.” 

Yubin just shook her head, “Alright, lets see the other pictures you took then.” motioning for Gahyeon to cycle through the pictures on the camera. “Not just the one of me.” she added, a light amused tone to her voice. 

They scrolled through the pictures Gahyeon had taken, and admittingly enough most of them were really good. Yubin was impressed, one at how good some of the pictures were, and secondly at how quickly the younger girl seemed to have learned. After a few minutes Gahyeon had scrolled past the last of her photos and stumbled upon one of Yubin’s. 

It was the picture of the fox. 

“Woah..” Gahyeon looked curiously at the picture, and looked over at Yubin. “How did you even manage to take that?” she asked, sounding interested.

“Honestly I don’t know? It was kind of a thing that just happened.” Yubin replied in a tone that made it seem like it was just a normal thing. Gahyeon looked back at the picture quietly. 

“It kinda just showed up when I was here one afternoon, and hasn’t left since. Now most of the time I come here, it’s always shown back up. Weird right?” 

“Maybe it trusts you.” the younger girl replied quietly, almost matter-of-factly. 

“Huh?”

“Nothing, nevermind.” Gahyeon glanced through a few other pictures before handing the camera back to Yubin, who was a little puzzled at the moment. She stood up and slung her bag over her shoulder. 

“It’s getting late and I kind of need to get home, so I’ll talk to you later, okay?” 

“Uh...yea of course.” Yubin stood up as well, placing her camera back into her bag and slinging her own bag over her shoulder. “Meet up tomorrow to study again?” she asked.

“I can’t, I’m busy.” the younger girl said in a monotone voice. “See ya later Yubin.” and before Yubin could say much else, or even offer to walk the younger girl back home, she walked off and disappeared down the pathway, leaving a puzzled Yubin alone by the tree.

* * *

The next day was quiet. Too quiet even for Yubin’s taste. Yoohyeon had left earlier that morning, something about going to look at apartments with Minji. There wasn’t much for her to do and without Gahyeon to tutor that day, the photography student was bored. She had sent a message to the younger girl just to let her know if something changed that she’d still be around to help if she wanted, despite her saying she was busy the day before. Yubin never got a reply. 

She sighed and laid back on the couch, realizing that the dorm felt pretty empty without her best friend around. She almost thought about messaging Bora, but she figured the older girl was probably busy. After almost an hour of scrolling through her phone, she finally got up and slipped her shoes on, grabbing her bag and her camera and heading out the door. Maybe she could go chill out at the tree and maybe even see her fox again. 

Now that Yubin thought about it, as she walked out the dorm building and down the sidewalk, she hadn’t seen any traces of the fox all week. She had gone to the spot one afternoon after helping Gahyeon and spent a few hours there with no trace of it anywhere. Yubin silently hoped nothing had happened, and that maybe it just got bored and decided to go somewhere else. 

It didn’t take long for her to make it to the park, and as she walked down the main path, a weird sense of dread formed in the back of her mind. Something seemed off. Yubin looked around, but nothing really seemed out of the ordinary. Except for the fact it was incredibly quiet. Normally on an afternoon like this you could hear a few birds in the trees or something scuttering around in the leaves, but there was nothing. 

It was impossibly silent.

Ignoring the weird feeling she was getting, the blonde followed her usual route to the tree, not noticing the extra footprints as she walked. As she neared the end of the path where it opened up into the clearing with the tree, she heard something. Yubin stopped dead in her tracks, listening. Suddenly she heard it again and the horrible feeling she was getting skyrocketed. 

The noise she heard sounded like something..._in pain_. 

Yubin waited ‘till she heard it again, and then tried to follow the sound. Whatever it was, was in severe pain and it worried her. She walked off her normal route and further into the forest, following the sounds.

The closer she seemed to get the louder they were, and by now she could clearly tell something was whimpering. Yubin sped up, almost at a jog as she went through the trees trying to find where the whimpering was coming from. 

Suddenly she noticed the whimpering was getting quieter no matter how close she got, and that only fueled her worry as she tried to search faster. Hoping whatever was in pain, she would get to it in time. That is if she could do anything in the first place. 

Eventually she spotted prints in the ground, some in the shape of a person wearing boots and the others...looked like prints of some sort of canine. Yubin stopped to look around, and didn’t see any other person around aside from herself, so she assumed whatever person was here earlier had left. 

She heard the whine again, more strained and almost desperate this time. Yubin glanced in the direction and realized the animal prints were headed in the same direction the whine was coming from. The horrible feeling in her grew even more as she rushed in the direction of the sounds. 

The whining stopped, and Yubin looked around frantically hoping to see whatever it was making the noise. She caught a glimpse of red in the grass nearby and fear crept in her chest. Carefully, she walked towards what she realized was probably blood. 

Yubin stopped in her tracks, eyes wide, and her heart sunk in her chest. 

There was so. much. _blood_.

There, at her feet, was the fox. 

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! This is just a reupload of an au I started on twitter! If you would like to see the pictures/profiles from that feel free to go read it here too! { https://twitter.com/orbisomnia/status/1073066984307417093 }
> 
> *As of 08/14/2020 I am on twitter as @orbisomnia_ as Twitter has suspended my main account. The Twitter AU version has not yet been reupoaded to my new account as of the day I write this, but I'm working on getting it back up soon. :(


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